


Best Laid Plans

by phichithamsters



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Dates, Katsuki Yuuri & Yuri Plisetsky Are Best Friends, M/M, Orientation Week, Parties, Yuri Plisetsky just wants to get laid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27070405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phichithamsters/pseuds/phichithamsters
Summary: Yuri has tried, he really has. But he had only one goal for orientation, and so far, he hasn’t had any luck whatsoever. All Yuri wants to do, for the love of god, is get laid.It wasn’t a matter of losing his virginity (even though it kind of was— Yuri had done stuff with other guys before, but he was really looking to do The Thing), but it was mostly a matter of freedom. All Yuri knew about college was that it was full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, or at least that’s what Yuuri made it sound like.Yuri meets Otabek at a party during his college Orientation Week, and they hit it off. Yuri wants to get down to business, but Otabek has other plans.
Relationships: Otabek Altin & Yuri Plisetsky, Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Comments: 8
Kudos: 53





	Best Laid Plans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ulquii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ulquii/gifts).



> This is my 400-followers giveaway fic for [@ulqueleh](https://twitter.com/ulqueleh) on Twitter! They asked for a college-centered otayuri AU, featuring an overly-eager Yuri and a protective Otabek. It was a joy to write for her!

Freshman orientation is not like anything Yuri Plisetsky expected. 

In fact, it’s probably the worst thing he’s ever done in his life. 

Every day, he is awoken by the sound of music blasting (bass literally boosted) right outside of his door around 7:30 AM so their hall can get ready for breakfast. He’s herded around like a sheep, from workshop to workshop, eating lukewarm buffet food that leaves him hungry less than an hour later. And the worst part is he doesn’t get invited to ANY parties. Yuri thought that going to college would at least get him invited to parties, but his orientation leaders have activities planned until 12 AM and by that time, Yuri is already too god damn tired to do anything but sleep. 

He’s met more people in the span of a week than he’s met in his entire life, probably, and he hasn’t really liked any of them. His roommate isn’t much fun— he’s either sleeping or reading his textbooks because he “wants to get ahead on work.” He’s a Korean international student and he mostly stays in their room, so Yuri tries to get out, but there’s not much to do. 

Yuri has tried, he really has. But he had only one goal for orientation, and so far, he hasn’t had any luck whatsoever. All Yuri wants to do, for the love of god, is get laid. 

It wasn’t a matter of losing his virginity (even though it  _ kind of  _ was— Yuri had done stuff with other guys before, but he was really looking to do The Thing), but it was mostly a matter of freedom. All Yuri knew about college was that it was full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, or at least that’s what Yuuri made it sound like. 

Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. His oldest friend went to college 4 years earlier than him and even though Yuuri wasn’t that wild, college seemed a heck of a lot better than high school, and Yuri hated having a curfew. But orientation week had not been the “ecstatic rollercoaster of emotions” that Yuuri had promised; in fact, it was actually kind of annoying. And more than that, Yuri was no closer to getting laid.

Yuri tried to flirt with his orientation leaders but found out from Day One that was never gonna happen. It turns out that having orientation a week before classes means the only people on campus are freshmen (no thanks), RAs (ew), and upperclassmen orientation leaders (which he’d already struck out on). Plus, the freshmen traveled in packs, and it was so hard to get a read on who was gay. Yuri even tried to go to the LGBTQ affinity panel, just to scope out potential hookups, but it was mostly lesbians (and Yuri found out later almost all of  _ them _ got lucky). Where on earth is Yuri’s luck?!

It seems like he’s tried everything. He texts Yuuri almost nightly to complain, and while Yuuri is nice and he listens, he offers no suggestions to help Yuri get laid. There is always the option of finding someone once school starts, but Yuri worries. Once classes kick in, and everything gets busy, who’s going to want to have casual sex with a freshman?? It just seems unlikely. 

What Yuri needs is a miracle. And he finally seems to have some luck, because the next day, Yuri meets Leo. 

Dejected, irritated, and mostly bored, Yuri sets out that morning to walk around campus, when he hears some music blasting from the grassy area of campus known as the Quad. He follows the sound until he spots a table, in the middle of the lawn, with three large speakers stacked on top of each other, blasting some super cool techno-rock music that Yuri is really vibing with. He walks over to the table.

“Hey, bro!” The guy standing behind it shouts. Yuri can barely hear him over the volume, but he takes a brochure. 

“What’s this club?” Yuri yells back. The guy points to his ear, and then beckons Yuri away from the table. They walk away from the speakers and under the shade of a nearby tree. 

“What’s this club?” Yuri asks again, a little too loudly. 

“Radio club! We’re called WRFM!” The guy says. He sticks out his hand. “I’m Leo, nice to meet ya.”

“Yuri.”

“You a freshman, Yuri?” Leo asks. 

Yuri snorts. “Yeah. I thought that was obvious.”

“Nah, you don’t really have a look about you,” Leo says. “Plus, you never want to assume.”

“I thought only freshmen were on campus?” Yuri asks. “And, well, orientation staff, but they have on those obnoxious shirts all the time.”

Leo laughs at his joke. “Nah, dude, there are more people back on campus. A lot of upperclassmen come back to like, advertise their clubs to freshmen,” he explains. 

“So you’re not a freshman?” 

Leo laughs again, this time clapping Yuri on the back in a way that makes him flinch. “Nope. Senior!”

“Oh, sorry,” Yuri says. “Well, I like your club. It sounds like it would be cool.”

“Are you interested in joining radio?” Leo seems surprised. “Dude, that’s awesome! You should definitely sign up for the d-list. It’s our mailing list. Oh! And lemme add you on Facebook. That’s where we post group meetings and stuff.”

Yuri scoffs. No one in his graduating class uses Facebook, but he guesses it’s a senior thing. Or maybe just a college thing. Yuri did make a profile to try to find a roommate, but well, look where that got him. 

“Alright. It’s just Yuri Plisetsky on Facebook,” he says. Might as well, right? Plus, Leo is the first upperclassmen he’s met that isn’t trying to make him learn a stupid cheer. Maybe if he joins this club he can find some people he actually likes. 

“Awesome, man. And yeah, take our brochure. Also,” Leo’s voice drops to a whisper, and he leans closer. “The radio club is having a kickback tomorrow night, trying to meet some new members and stuff. You wanna come?”

Yuri cannot put into words how badly he wants to go to this kickback— his first college party! He’s so excited, but he has to play it cool. 

Keeping his face as neutral as possible, he says, “Yeah, that sounds chill.”

He lets out the air he’s been holding when Leo says, “Great! I’ll message you the address on Facebook.”

He turns to walk back to the table. “Nice to meet you, Yuri!”

Yuri gives a stupid little wave. He kind of wants to keep hanging out with Leo, learn all the real college secrets, but he doesn’t want to bother him or be  _ that  _ freshman. So he bottles up his newfound excitement and heads back to his dorm, practically buzzing the entire walk. 

_ A college party, a real college party, fucking finally!  _ Yuri wants to pump his fist in the air although— correction, it’s a kickback, which honestly is so much  _ cooler _ than a party. He’s been invited into an inner circle, one with cool people and cool music, and he’s  _ pretty _ positive Leo is not straight.

Looks like everything’s coming up Yuri. 

The first person he texts, of course, is his childhood best friend, Yuuri. They met in figure skating clubs back when Yuri was just starting grade school. Yuri had a lot of energy growing up, and what other choice did parents have for rowdy kids growing up in upstate New York other than to shove them into skates and pray that they don’t fall? Instead of becoming an ice hockey player, like Yuri’s grandfather wanted, however, he became a figure skater, and that’s where he met Yuuri. 

Yuuri was four years his senior and had been skating for almost six years. He was everything Yuri aspired to be in skating and he latched onto him, almost to a fault. The two were practically inseparable growing up, and when Yuuri decided to give up his skating dreams to pursue an education, an equally talented Yuri did as well. 

“ _ Guess what _ ,” Yuri texts his friend, no preamble. Yuuri is currently in med school (he’s almost as good a doctor than he was a figure skater, if anyone could believe it), but he still messages Yuri back within minutes, because more than anything, Yuuri was a good friend.

“ _ What!!! _ ” he replies, in his usual Yuuri excitement. 

“ _ I got invited to a kickback _ ,” Yuri texts. He wishes he could FaceTime his friend, but he won’t be out of class for another few hours. 

“ _ Exciting! And finally _ ,” Yuuri responds. “ _ When is it? _ ”

“ _ Tomorrow night >:) _ ”

“ _ Who throws a party on a Thursday? Are you sure this is something you want to be going to? _ ”

Yuri rolls his eyes at his well-meaning but overprotective friend. “ _ It’s O week. No one has anything to do. Don’t worry it’s with a club!! _ ”

“ _ Will there be other freshmen there? Gtg class is starting. _ ”

Yuri doesn’t respond. He’ll just talk about it whenever Yuuri calls him, which they usually do once a day. College has sucked so far, but having Yuuri— an alum of the very same school— offering advice makes things a little better.

For now, though, Yuri checks the orientation schedule, doesn’t like his options, and heads up to his room and takes a nap. Lord knows he needs one.

—

The day of the party, Leo adds him on Facebook and sends a message. Yuri thinks he should be embarrassed of his scarcely-populated profile, but he’s too excited for negative emotions.

“ _ Hey, Yuri! _ ” Leo’s message begins.  _ “Instead of giving out the address, we’re gonna have upperclassmen walk y'all to the party. What dorm are you living in? I can meet you there at 10:30. _ ”

“Sounds good,” Yuri replies, not trying to let eager exclamation points slip into his message. “ _ I live in Newman.” _

And, after thinking it over:  _ “Btw, why aren’t you giving out the address?” _

Leo sends a thumbs-up emoji, and the following message:  _ “We don’t want random people showing up. It’s not personal” _

Yuri can understand that, even though he would rather not be shuttled around like a child. But so far, Leo has not asked him to pay for alcohol, so Yuri will take what he can get. 

Leo picks him up outside the dorm a little after 10:30, and they walk across campus and down a side street known for housing college students. They get to a row of townhouses and Leo leads him in a back entrance, into a basement dimly lit by hanging Christmas lights. It’s less packed than Yuri had imagined; only 15 or so people or there, sitting on couches and chairs in a haphazard circle. They all look up when Yuri enters. 

“Hey everyone, this is Yuri,” Leo says. Yuri gives his best smile. A few people in the group wave back. 

Leo takes him to the bar, where someone hands him a pre-made drink that doesn’t taste the least bit like alcohol. 

“Don’t want to get the freshman too wasted on their first week,” Leo says with a wink. Yuri nods, a little annoyed, but he hopes his low tolerance will help him feel the effects of whatever is in this drink. It’s mostly juice, with a slightly bitter aftertaste. 

Then, Leo heads out to go pick up another freshman, and Yuri quietly enters the circle of chairs, sitting on the edge of a couch and nursing his fruity drink. The music is pretty loud, and everyone seems to be engrossed in their conversations, so Yuri takes a moment to look around. 

He doesn’t recognize anyone else, but he’s not sure how many people are part of the club and how many are freshmen like him. The worst part is that no one is sitting alone, and Yuri is starting to get pissed that his only friend left him. He pulls out his phone to text Yuuri. 

He’s about to text Yuuri how much the party sucks, when someone sits next to him. 

“Hey,” the guy says. He has dark brown hair and an undercut, and his eyes are dark and piercing. He has an accent, but Yuri can’t quite place it. 

“Hi,” Yuri says. “Uh, I’m Yuri.”

The guy sticks out his hand. “JJ,” he says. “I’m the president of WRFM.”

“Oh, cool.”

“What are you studying?” JJ asks cheerfully. 

God, not this again. He was kind of cute until he opened his mouth, but it’s the same orientation week, recruiter-ass bullshit that Yuri has been hearing nonstop for the past week. 

“Uh, dunno. I’m undecided,” Yuri says. It’s always awful to admit, like he’s dragging the words from his throat just to get them out. Everyone judges him for not having a major at this school. So what if he doesn’t have his life figured out? He has time. 

“Gotcha, that’s cool. I’m a MechE myself,” JJ says proudly. Yuri wants to roll his eyes, but he also kind of wants to join the radio club. So he just finishes his drink and excuses himself to get another, leaving JJ alone on the couch. 

Yuri sneakily downs one drink while the bartender isn’t looking (it’s like 98% juice, honestly) and then picks up another cup. He’s going to try to go back into the circle (and sit somewhere else, for God’s sake), when JJ finds him again. 

“Hey, Yuri!” He says. He has a friend with him too, a little shorter, a little stockier, and a lot less friendly looking, but they do have the same haircut. 

JJ pats his friend on the back. “This is my friend Otabek,” he says, and the other man nods. “I think you two will get along well!” And then he turns away and leaves Yuri with yet another stranger. 

“Uh, hi,” Yuri says, and sticks out his hand. Cue the world's most awkward handshake, God, why did he do that?

To his surprise, Otabek places another drink in his outstretched hand and says, “Wanna sit?”

Yuri follows him to a pair of chairs behind the circle. 

“I’m Otabek, second year.”

“I’m Yuri. Uh, freshman, obviously.”

Otabek looks him up and down. “Not really,” he says, and Yuri’s face heats up. Is this what it’s like to be turned on by someone you just met— or is it the alcohol? Yuri isn’t sure, but he does like the way Otabek is staring at him. He takes another drink to hide his blush. 

“Um, aren't you gonna ask me what I’m studying?” Yuri says. He is suddenly self-conscious about having a juice stain on his lips, so he wipes it with the back of his hand. To his delight, Otabek’s eyes follow the motion with his eyes. 

“No,” Otabek replies, still looking at Yuri’s lips. His eyes flicker back up to meet Yuri’s. “I think it’s dumb to judge people based on their major.”

“Amen to that.”

“Plus, I was undecided coming in as a freshman, and it sucked when everyone assumed I was stupid or something for not having chosen a major. So I make a point not to ask,” he explains. 

Yuri feels a swell of pride and happiness in his chest, all because of what Otabek said. He totally feels the same way. Yuri knows JJ probably got them talking because Yuri’s undecided, and that’s a judgement in and of itself, but at this moment, Yuri could care less. 

Finally, someone on this campus who understands him! And not to mention Otabek’s looks. Maybe it’s the dim light or maybe it’s the alcohol, but Otabek is getting more attractive by the minute, and the signals he’s putting out make Yuri think he’s going to  _ put out.  _

Oh my god, is this it? Is it finally happening?

_ Thank you, radio Gods, for bringing Otabek the radio club second year into my life, Yuri thinks _ . He just has to keep the conversation going, turn up the charm, and no one, not even Otabek, will be able to resist. 

Yuri takes a long drink, watching Otabek watch him from the corner of his eye. He finishes with a dramatic  _ ahh _ that makes Otabek’s Adam’s apple bob with a swallow. 

_ Perfect _ . 

“I totally agree with you,” Yuri says. “Majors are overrated. So like, tell me about this club?”

Otabek’s eyes light up. Yuri learns he had a passion for DJ-ing growing up, and he worked at a local radio station in college. Now, he’s running the radio station 3 days a week and trying to fit sound design classes into his schedule. 

“What kind of music do you like?” Yuri asks.

“That’s a hard question,” Otabek looks off into space for a moment. “I’d have to say EDM right now, just because of how it’s produced, but I also really like classic rock. What about you?”

Yuri grins. “I like all types of music.”

Otabek raises his eyebrow the tiniest bit, almost an imperceptible amount. “Oh, really?”

“Really.”

“Even country music?”

“Okay,” Yuri concedes, “Maybe not country—”

“What about Swedish death metal? Hyper pop? New-age Egyptian rap?” Otabek fires them off the list in rapid succession.

“There’s no way those are real,” Yuri counters.

Otabek takes a slow sip of his drink and Yuri watches for a reaction. 

Finally, he says, “They’re real. All of them… except for the last one.” He laughs.

Yuri snorts and punches him lightly.

Over the course of the conversation, Yuri inches closer to Otabek on the couch. The music fades and so do the other people, and it feels like it’s just the two of them in the room, in the entire world, even, talking about music. Yuri asks questions, and listens with rapt attention as Otabek speaks. 

At one point, Yuri puts his hand on Otabek’s knee casually, after laughing at something he said. Otabek doesn't seem to notice, so Yuri takes it up a notch. 

“You’re really funny,” he says, scooting closer and laying his head on Otabek’s shoulder. “It’s fun talking to you.”

“It’s been nice talking to you too.”

“So like, what are you doing after this?” Yuri asks, lifting up his head to look into Otabek’s eyes. They are wide and staring straight back at him— perfect. 

“Probably sleeping,” Otabek says with a small laugh. 

Yuri pouts, inching even closer. Most of his body is pressed against Otabek’s side, and his hands find Otabek’s arms. “Sounds nice…”

“Yeah…”

Otabek isn’t making a move, so Yuri takes matters into his own hands. He leans forward, closes his eyes, and kisses Otabek. 

Otabek makes a surprised little noise at first, but then he exhales into the kiss, his body relaxing in Yuri’s hands. God, it’s like a dream, Yuri can’t remember the last time he kissed someone, and the lighting is dim and perfect and the music is just right—

Suddenly, he feels two hands pushing him back. Yuri pulls away, confused, to see Otabek’s eyes are open and his hands are on Yuri’s chest. 

“I— I can’t—“

“What?” Yuri doesn’t know what to say. Things were going so well, and now, suddenly, he’s being… what, rejected?

“I’m sorry Yuri, I just can’t,” Otabek says. He looks breathless, distressed, and devastatingly beautiful. “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.”

“Dude, what the hell—“

Yuri doesn’t have time to finish his question before Otabek gets up from the couch and walks away. Yuri watches him duck out of the room. 

God, what was that? 

And then, Yuri takes a look around him to realize that almost everyone is staring at him. 

“Um, I’ve got to— uh—“ Yuri fumbles for his words and his jacket as he gets up from the couch and practically runs towards the door. He passes Leo who's on his way in, and he looks confused, but Yuri would rather die than talk to anyone right now, so he just pushes past Leo and into the night air. 

This is the worst Yuri has felt since coming to college. Perhaps this is what rock bottom feels like. There are hot tears gathering at the corner of his eyes and he begs his body not to betray him as he walks home. He’s drunker than he realizes, because when he reaches his room, he immediately falls into bed and doesn’t want to get up. 

He just kicks off his shoes and buries his face into his pillow, hoping he can sleep away this disaster of a night. 

—

For one peaceful moment when Yuri wakes up, he does not remember what had transpired the night before; instead, he rolls over sleepily, to check his phone, midmorning light streaming across his face—

And then, all at once, it hits him like a ton of bricks. 

What’s even worse: his body must have gotten used to waking up at 7:30 AM every morning, because before Yuri even has a chance to think, the sound of pop music blasts down the hallway, followed by the cheers of his orientation leaders. 

Yuri buries his face under a pillow as they knock incessantly on his door. 

After dragging himself to the bathroom and back to get ready, Yuri eventually sneaks away from his floor on their way to breakfast and heads back to his room (where he finds his roommate fast asleep). Yuri lays down, face first, on his bed and groans loudly, knowing that Seung Gil will not be woken up.

For a while this morning, Yuri could convince himself that last night was no more than a nightmare. But when he checks his phone again, the damning evidence is there: a text from Leo, with the message: “Did you get home ok?” 

Yuri doesn’t even open it. Instead, he turns over and Facetimes Yuuri, praying he hasn’t left for class.

His prayers are heard, and Yuuri picks up the phone.

“Hi, Yuri!” he answers, cheerful as one can be at this ungodly hour. “How was the party?”

Yuri groans again. Yuuri must see the look of absolute despair on his friend’s face. “What happened?”

Yuri recounts every morbid detail of the night before, cringing the entire time. Yuuri offers sympathetic little noises every so often, which Yuri appreciates, but unfortunately, it does nothing to alleviate his pain.

“And so like, it was so stupid, cause I wanted to join the club, but now I can never, obviously,” Yuri says. 

“I mean, I bet they would understand—”

“No Yurri, it’s not about them,” Yuri interrupts. “It’s about me. I’d probably shrivel up and die if I ever saw them again.”

Just then, Yuri receives a message notification. “That’s weird. Someone is trying to message me?”

“What does it say?” Yuuri asks. 

“I can’t see. It says it’s a request?”

“On Facebook?”

“Yeah.”

“I see,” Yuuri says. “It’s probably someone who isn’t your friend on Facebook.”

Yuri opens the request, and gasps so loud that this time he does wake his roommate.

He also throws his phone halfway across the room, which might have something to do with Seung Gil’s dirty look that he shoots Yuri before turning over and hiding under his comforter.

“Yura! What happened?” Yuuri’s voice calls from the other side of the room.

Yuri runs to pick up his phone. Leaning closer to the phone, he hisses, “It’s  _ him.” _

“Who?” Yuuri looks incredibly worried.

“The  _ guy from last night,” _ Yuri whispers. 

“What did he say?” Yuuri asks. The message is open in the app, but Yuri hasn’t read it. “Well, don’t you think you should open it?”

The last thing Yuri wants to do is open that message, but at the same time, his morbid curiosity and self-destructive tendencies are firing on all cylinders. 

“Ok, ok. I’m gonna do it.” Yuri takes a deep breath (Yuuri supplies a, “Good luck!”) and then opens the message.

From Otabek Altin, 8:31 AM:

> _ Hi Yuri. I wanted to apologize for how I acted last night. I was surprised by how you acted but I should not have pushed you away. I was worried about you and what you had to drink, and I didn’t want to take advantage of you. But I really enjoyed our conversation, and I would like to try again. Would you like to grab dinner sometime this week? _

“Oh. My. God,” Yuri breathes, but just then, someone pounds on his door, loudly.

“Yuri Plisetsky and Seung Gil Lee, we know you are skipping Orientation activities! Today is Community Day and attendance is  _ mandatory!” _ The orientation leader yells.

“What, what happened?” Yuuri asks from his phone. Both Yuri and Seung Gil spring out of bed and shout “Coming!” to the closed door.

“I’ve got to go,” Yuri tells his friend. “It’ll talk to you later!” He says, and then hangs up the phone.

The orientation leader bangs again.

“God, I’m  _ coming!”  _ Yuri yells.

—

Yuri rereads the messages three more times over the course of the day, typing out several drafts of responses but then always deleting them before sending. Yuuri’s no help, since he’s in and out of lectures all day, and since Yuri has made essentially 0 friends thus far in college, he’s left to figure this one out by himself.

First things first, Yuri isn’t even sure he  _ wants  _ to see Otabek again. Yes, the man was hot, but he had outright  _ rejected him  _ in front of an entire club. What’s even worse, is that Yuri really thought that they had a connection, that maybe Otabek was even into him. And now… maybe it seems like he was? That he is?

Yuri is 90% sure he never wants to see Otabek or the radio club again.

But that other 10%... Otabek did apologize…

The back and forth drives him crazy, and the afternoon passes in a blur.

Yuri is torn, truly and utterly indecisive. He wants to go on a date with Otabek, but then again, he would also like to avoid the man at all costs. At the very least, Yuri wants to respond. He reasons that responding to his message wouldn’t necessarily mean he’s committing to a date. It could just be a message.

All of the thinking makes his head hurt. During lunch, he sneaks away from his floor and takes a nap in his dorm. 

—

Refreshed from his nap, Yuri wakes up with a clear head and a clear idea of what he wants: a second chance.

Not just for himself, but for Otabek, too. A second chance for Otabek to not be a dick and reject him.

It takes a quick phone call with Yuuri to draft a message, but that evening, Yuri sends a response to Otabek, and by the next morning, they have a dinner date scheduled for tomorrow night. 

Yuri was planning on skipping all of the rest of the week’s orientation activities, but he figures he needs some sort of distraction to get him through the rest of the day. 

So he sits through some boring seminars, actually tries to participate in some icebreakers, and he even goes to an ice cream social for students in his department. He meets a few other students who are also undecided in their major and as lost as he is feeling, and it makes him feel a little less alone. 

7 PM rolls around, and Yuri stands outside of his dorm, waiting for Otabek to pick him up. He fidgets with his phone, turning it on to check it, swiping through some apps, turning it off, and then getting bored and repeating the whole cycle. He’s trying to calm his fraying nerves when he spots Otabek rounding the corner of his building. 

He looks nice— wearing shiny leather shoes and a dark button-up. Yuri is worried for a moment that he’s underdressed. 

But Otabek approaches him with a smile that makes Yuri’s chest feel like it’s bursting into light, and so they walk together to the bus stop to head into town. 

“Um, how are you?” Yuri asks, nervously playing with the frayed edges of his denim jacket. 

“I’m good. And yourself?”

“Good.” They walk for a bit. The conversation at the party was so easy, but now it feels like pulling teeth, mostly because Yuri cannot stop thinking about how Otabek rejected him. Yuri wonders, briefly, if this was a bad idea. 

Otabek asks him a question, which Yuri doesn’t catch. “What did you say?”

“Oh, I just asked what you did today,” Otabek says. 

“Um… just normal orientation stuff. I went to some workshops and socials and stuff, and ate terrible O-week food. I’m glad we’re going off campus,” Yuri says. 

“Me too,” Otabek says, with a small chuckle. “I am still getting the hang of cooking for myself.”

“Do you have an apartment?” Yuri asks. He realizes he has no idea where Otabek lives. 

“Yeah, just down the street from here,” he points up the street, away from the bus stop. 

“So what have you been up to for this week?” Yuri asks. He’s genuinely curious what the upperclassmen are doing while all the freshmen are romping around during orientation. 

“Mostly, nothing. Playing video games, hanging out with friends. Occasionally helping to promote the radio club.”

“I see,” Yuri says, and just then, the bus pulls up. They board and swipe their IDs, sitting next to each other on the plastic seats. The conversation gets easier from there as they get to the restaurant— nothing too fancy, just a place that serves lots of different types of noodles. Apparently it’s a chain, but Yuri has never heard of it. 

Yuri’s phone pings with the occasional supportive text from Yuuri, but he doesn’t have any urge to check it. Things are going well on his date: Otabek is laughing at all of his jokes, and they must have the same dry sense of humor cause Yuri thinks Otabek is pretty funny as well. Yuri learns more about Otabek’s freshman orientation week experience, and he’s happy to hear he’s not the only one that would rather be in class for a full week rather than do all of those stupid activities.

Maybe it’s because Otabek is antisocial (he said it, not Yuri), or maybe he just generally doesn’t like being told what to do for 12 hours straight. But no matter the reason, it’s nice to have someone to commiserate with. 

And, the best part is, Otabek seems to be returning Yuri’s signals this time— in fact, he seems to be initiating them. At one point, during something particularly funny, he reaches out and lightly touches Yuri’s arm. Yuri blushes when it happens, too, and he can almost convince himself that the night at the party never happened, that they were just meeting for the first time tonight. 

“Yuri, I actually wanted to talk about what happened at Leo’s house the other night.” Until Otabek says  _ this _ , of course. 

Yuri kind of wants to die. He fidgets in his chair. “Um, what about it?”

“I wanted to say I’m sorry again, for how I acted,” Otabek says. 

“It’s fine,” Yuri says quickly, hoping to change the subject. 

“It’s not. I should have just talked to you instead of running away.”

“I mean, yeah, maybe, but—“

“Cause I do like you, Yuri, and I don’t want you to get the impression that I don’t,” Otabek says, and then looks at Yuri, waiting for a response. 

But  _ god,  _ what is Yuri supposed to say to that? Well, since it’s honesty hour, Yuri might as well be honest too. “If you liked me, why did you push me away?”

It’s brutal, but Yuri has been relieving the awful moment in his head for days now. The least he deserves is an answer. 

Otabek states at Yuri. “It’s because I wanted to do this right.”

“Oh. Gotcha,” Yuri looks away to conceal his blush. 

“Is it working?” Otabek asks. 

“Is what working?” 

“The date. Am I doing it right?”

Yuri laughs a little. “Yeah, this is great.”

“Then would you like to come back to my place for a movie?” Otabek asks, one eyebrow raised just a little higher than the other, just like the other night at Leo’s.

Yuri feels all the air leave the room and he can barely choke out a “Yes,” before he’s flying out the door, Otabek close behind him. 

Otabek puts on Jurassic Park, but the movie is quickly forgotten when he leans over to kiss Yuri lightly on the cheek, which Yuri responds to by scrambling onto Otabek’s lap and pressing their lips together. 

Kissing Otabek the second time is so much better, because Yuri is delightfully sober and can memorize every detail of Otabek— his jaw, his collarbones, his shoulders, biceps, forearms, fingers. His hands trace Otabek’s chest and torso and Otabek’s tangle into Yuri’s blonde hair, pulling him closer. The dinosaurs shriek on-screen but Yuri would be hard-pressed to hear them; Otabek’s hot breath on his ear. 

It’s a bit of a dance, and Yuri senses both he and Otabek are holding back. Yuri pulls away just as someone screams on the TV. He bites his lip. 

“Should we move this somewhere else?” Otabek asks, eyes on Yuri’s mouth. 

“Depends. Do you have a roommate?” Yuri teases. 

“Nope, just me,” Otabek smiles. 

Yuri shifts in Otabek’s lap, feeling something very exciting there that’s also just a little bit too real. It scares him, a little, even though his whole goal this week was to get laid. Maybe it’s because Otabek took him on a date, or because his feelings are starting to also get… real. 

But Otabek stands up and extends his hand and pulls Yuri close against him, kissing him softly and slowly, before leading him towards his bedroom, and Yuri’s anxiety melts always under Otabek’s soft gaze. 

Okay, yeah, Yuri’s  _ definitely _ going to get laid tonight. 

He follows Otabek into the bedroom, shutting the door behind them. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! You can find me on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/phichithamsters). 
> 
> Oh, and quick promo: Otayuri Week 2020 is right around the corner! Check out the event page [here](https://twitter.com/otayuriweek), and feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions!


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